Question

In my application, I am parsing XML data using SAX Parser. But, I want to put the whole parsing operation in background, i.e., I want to do this using worker thread. Which will be the best solution for this, using handler, AsyncTask or services, as I am having lots of confusion between the three.

Answer 1

A Handler doesn’t do any work; it’s a means for passing off processing between a background thread and the UI thread. An AsyncTask is the way to go here: it has a built-in Handler so you can do something back on the UI thread when you’re done, or even publish updates as work progresses. It’s just like using a plain worker Thread, but with the convenience of the Handler built in. Of course, you can use a worker Thread and Handler yourself if the way a Handler works isn’t a good match to your needs.

A Service sounds like overkill for this; it’s a way to make processing available to other activities. It also doesn’t get around the problem: the Service is invoked on the UI thread and it needs to fire up a separate thread to avoid blocking the UI.